Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

This is the first time I've read the unabridged version of this book.  The version I read was translated by Noman Denny.  He seemed to do a good job.  There were actually two parts, one on convents and one on argot that he didn't include in the story and placed at the end in an appendix.  I didn't miss them!  The unabridged version does contain quite a bit of extraneous material, like an exhaustive account of the battle of Waterloo, a philosophical discussion of revolution, and the history of the Paris sewers.  It is nice to get additional detail and the whole story.  Hugo does like to include "everything" in his writing.  "Les Mis" tells the story of Jean Valjean, a French convict.  He is jailed for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread and subsequent escape attempts.  After he is released, no one is willing to give him shelter or sell him food until he finds a benevolent Bishop.  Valjean robs the bishop during the night and flees.  He is captured and brought back to the bishop's home.  The truly good bishop says he gave Valjean the silver as a gift, so that he can go free.  He tells Valjean he has purchased his soul from evil for good.  Valjean changes his life, although he continues to face challenges because of his convict status.  It is a great story and an interesting book.  It takes a pretty big time commitment to read its 1000+ pages, though.  Worth the time, but it needs a big chunk of it!